In an address to British government officials this week at London’s historic Lancaster House, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underscored the depth and breadth of the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Our two nations are united by a common history and cultural heritage,” Pompeo said. More important, he said, “we share common values: respect for the rule of law and property rights, protection of basic freedoms, an unwavering belief in human dignity.”
Pompeo said these values are the foundation of each nation’s success and that “they must be vigilantly protected.”
The secretary called attention to the longstanding and robust partnership in matters of military defense, intelligence and diplomacy. He gave special recognition to economic partnership. “Our economic cooperation is a model for the rest of the world to emulate,” he said. “We collectively set the standards for innovation, entrepreneurship and human striving.”
Pompeo laid out threats facing both nations, in particular terrorism and “the reemergence of great power competition in the likes of China and Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“Let’s stand together to address the challenges of our time,” he said, emphasizing the countries’ collaboration to defeat ISIS in the Middle East, hold Russia accountable for the chemical weapon attack in the U.K., and deter cyber attacks from China in the U.S., EU and the United Kingdom.
“In China, we face a new kind of challenge. It’s an authoritarian regime that’s integrated economically into the West in ways the Soviet Union never was,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo concluded his address with the reassurance that America will always remain a friend to the United Kingdom as well as a friend of justice, freedom and truth.
“And as Mrs. Thatcher once toasted to President Reagan,” he said, “‘Let us look forward with confidence to the next 200 years of Anglo-American friendship, to an enduring and confident alliance, and to peace and freedom for today’s and future generations.'”
